Mahoney, Thoms, Franklin: Black Nurses and Reformers to Remember

Nursing is a challenging profession that requires expertise, dedication, and compassion. Black nurses have made significant contributions to the field, yet their stories often go untold. In this second post in a four-part series for this Nurses Month (here’s the first post), I continue to highlight the achievements of Black nurses who have worked to provide quality care despite discrimination and prejudice. This post will focus on Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845-1926), Adah Belle Samuels Thoms (1870-1943), and Martha Minerva Franklin (1870-1968) as well as on the collaboration among them.

Mary Eliza Mahoney

One of the most prominent Black nurses in history, Mary Eliza Mahoney, was born in 1845 to parents free from slavery. She became the first Black registered nurse in the United States in 1879 after completing a rigorous training program at the New England Hospital for Women and Children. She was the only Black student in her class and one of only four out of 41 who completed the rigorous program.

Hospitals did not hire Black nurses, nor did public health agencies, forcing her to work as a private duty nurse for mostly wealthy white families. Mahoney spent the next 40 years in clinical practice while fighting for acceptance of Black nurses into the larger nursing community. Her advocacy inspired many other Black […]

2023-05-08T16:01:18-04:00May 8th, 2023|Black nurses, Nursing, nursing history|2 Comments

In a Formidable Nursing Career, Bernardine Lacey Faced and Overcame Racism

Her story is important to know, because it offers an opportunity to learn from the not-too-distant past and explore some of the difficult truths about racism in nursing, the role of the profession in this history, and the effect of these accounts on current diversity and inclusivity efforts.

Lacey meeting with first lady Barbara Bush in the White House in the 1980s.

So write Sandra Lewenson and Ashley Graham-Perel in their article in the August issue of AJN, ‘You Don’t Have Any Business Being This Good’: An Oral History Interview with Bernardine Lacey. In the article, they recount Lacey’s upbringing in the South and the many racial barriers that made it difficult for her in getting an education and pursuing her career—which became a formidable one. As a result of her many accomplishments in education, practice, and leadership, she was named a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing in 2014.

Racial barriers remain.

1918 Redux: Supportive Nursing Care for the Coronavirus Pandemic Is Courageous Care

Litter carriers at Red Cross Emergency Ambulance Station in Washington, D.C., during influenza pandemic of 1918.

The lessons of the past.

As we struggle to make sense of unfolding data, announcements, and public health directives about the current coronavirus pandemic, appreciating the lessons from past pandemics can help us understand the effectiveness and challenges related to quarantines and social isolation, as well as the need for reliable and timely communications.

In times of public health uncertainty, nurses and nursing care have played a critical role in saving lives and relieving suffering. We now know a great deal about the role of nursing during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Some lessons need heeding now.

Historian Nancy Bristow’s American Pandemic (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012) presents the historical facts clearly. For example, public health officials’ 1918 prohibitions on public gatherings, the sharing of such (then) new personal items as toothbrushes, and school attendance and religious services met acceptance as well as resistance. […]

A Call to Address Fatigue to Protect Nurse Health and Patient Safety—from 1919

The evidence on nurse fatigue has been there all along.

During Women’s History Month, which is about to end, I’ve been posting (here and here) on nursing history (and in the process exploring its close confluence with women’s history). For this last post, I’m highlighting an article published in the March 1919 issue of AJN—exactly 100 years ago. The evidence on fatigue from long working hours has been there all along.

The Movement For Shorter Hours in Nurses’ Training Schools” (free until April 15; click on the pdf version in the upper right), was written by Isabel Stewart, who was professor and then director of the nursing program at Teachers College, Columbia University, and coauthor of the National League for Nursing Education (the forerunner of today’s National League for Nursing) Standard Curriculum for Schools of Nursing.

A call for 8-hour work days for nurses.

In this article, which is in some ways disturbingly relevant today, Isabel Stewart notes that major nursing organizations recently met and were seeking “to enlist the support of a great many influential organizations and the general public in establishing an eight-hour day and a fifty-two hour week for pupil nurses.” (As a reminder, hospital nursing staff at that time were mostly nursing […]

April Issue: IV Patient-Controlled Analgesia Errors, Implementing EBP, Nurses and Climate Action, More

“Think about your own workplace: do you take pride in what you do, feel that you and your work are valued, and enjoy the team you work with? Do the good days outweigh the bad days?”—AJN editor-in-chief Shawn Kennedy in her April editorial

The April issue of AJN is now live. Here are some highlights.

CE: Original Research: Errors in Postoperative Administration of Intravenous Patient-Controlled Analgesia: A Retrospective Study

The authors describe and analyze the errors associated with the use of IV patient-controlled analgesia at a large medical center in South Korea.

CE: A Historical Review of Nurse–Physician Bedside Rounding

How has the nurse’s role in bedside rounding evolved since the 19th century? This article discusses the challenges of nurse participation in bedside rounding from 1873 to 1973.

Sustaining Nursing Grand Rounds Through Interdisciplinary Teamwork and Interorganizational Partnership

The authors present the implementation of a grand rounds program at their naval hospital, and demonstrate how nursing grand rounds can support professional growth and strengthen partnerships.

New Series: EBP 2.0: Implementing and Sustaining Change: From Strategy to Implementation

Our follow-up to the popular Evidence-Based Practice, Step by Step series (which appeared in AJN from 2009 to 2011) is focused on the most challenging of the seven EBP steps—implementation.

Environments […]

2019-03-25T09:53:59-04:00March 25th, 2019|Nursing, nursing history|0 Comments
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